Card of the Day

Written by Foolkiller

Here it is; the key to solving the Loan from Chiba engine. Omniscience Foundation is an excellent card which serves a purpose in any Corp deck which seeks to tag the Runner.

One of the key problems in Tag'n'Bag stategies, or other strategies which require a tag on the Runner, is getting a tag to stick on the Runner during the Corp's turn. More often, the Runner will side-step tags on their own turn, or take actions to remove them. The Corp's first attempts to tag the Runner usually involve tracing by means of cards like Chance Observation, etc... This quickly becomes expensive and if the Runner is equipped with a quality link, it will become impossible or impracticle to trace the Runner. Omniscience Foundation (O.F.) changes all that. The greatest cards to use O.F. with are TRAP! and Marked Accounts.

Both cards tag the Runner on their turn, and if the Runner takes actions to remove those tags, the Corp may rez O.F. and provide the Runner with another tag just before the start of the Corp's next turn. Now it is no longer necessary to trace the Runner and the Corp can proceed with terminating the Runner or his/her resources. None of these cards requires a trace, so no link will help the Runner. The only cards the Runner can use to prevent these tags are Nasuko Cycle (which is usually too expensive to rely on), Fall Guy (one shot card) and Expendable Family Member (another one shot). If the Runner is not prepared with one of these you are able to proceed with your plans.

Another nice card to use with O.F. is City Surveillance. The one drawback is the fact that two subsidiary forts are needed to use these cards. If your opponent goes after unprotected forts that means you need to use iced forts to protect them. I prefer to penalize the Runner for accessing my forts with booby traps, but ambushing their draws can also be quite effective.

O.F. has the drawback of having a low trash cost, but in general, this is compensated for by virtue of the fact that it accomplishes a rather tough job while it is in play. The free rez cost is also another incentive to use the card, even in an unprotected fort.

Another trick combo to consider with O.F. is Data Sifters. Once the Runner realizes that O.F. is going to get them slagged (if it hasn't already!) they will probably take actions to remove it. If they do, you can give them yet another near-unavoidable tag!

In a deck that does not intend to take advantage of a tagged Runner this card is both a waste of a draw and a fort if it is installed, so leave it out unless you are prepared to go after the Runner in some way.

For those that may be wondering, to kill LFC with O.F., consider the addition of Marked Accounts and Corporate Detective Agency to your deck. This is a nice set of tools for any deck, and poison to LFC!